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In this three-quarter portrait Queen Isabel de Valois (1546-1568) wears a black velvet gown with round sleeves from which her slashed red silk undersleeves embroidered with gold and silver thread peep out. On her head is a tilted flat cap which, like the buttons adorning the gown, is decorated with diamonds and rubies. The French queen would have dressed in this manner for solemn events, embellish
This portrait is a full-length likeness of Philip II’s third wife, Queen Isabel de Valois. She wears a black gown with pointed sleeves and a long train that is curled around her body and billows at the back. Poking out from beneath her hanging sleeves, held in place with ruby and diamond buttons and lined in white fabric, are silver and gold undersleeves. The one-piece gown is decorated with appli
The overall composition conforms to the type of portrait prevailing in Europe in the second half of the 16th century. The arrangement of the figure, slightly turned to the left in order to avoid a rigid frontality; the strong lighting that models the face and hands; the way in which the hands are arranged; and the inclusion of a curtain as a decorative element were all formulas created in the mid-
The figure has been identified as Saint Clement, a pope and a martyr from the 1st century (92–101). Originally Jewish, Saint Peter converted him to Christianity. According to tradition, he became a martyr by being thrown into the Black Sea with an anchor around his neck. In 867, Saints Cyril and Methodius transferred his remains to Rome and in so doing catalysed his devotional following. He is alw
The vessel, similar to O44, is formed by three fragments of agate and five enamelled gold mounts. The body is an ancient piece of stone with a broad gold mount on the edge decorated with an enamelled pattern of white and black foliage linked by festoons of blue ribbons. Resting on this is an eagle’s head in black and white enamel, with a gold beak and two rubies for eyes. A thick knop supports the
Vessel similar to O38, except that the cover is missing. The precious stones on the jasper ring are complete, and the remaining cameos consist of a Roman-style bust of a crowned man and a woman’s head by the same maker, both of cornelian; another head, perhaps Hercules, in chalcedony; and a male bust crowned with laurel, with another female bust in the background, of agate, similar to a cameo pres
A tall-footed cup whose bowl has the form of a ship’s hull with a pointed prow and a slightly raised stern, while below are a balustroid stem and a tortoise for a foot, all formed by three pieces of rock crystal joined by two enamelled gold mounts. The decoration of the bowl is extremely fine, and may have had a political significance. The mount on the foot was stolen in 1918. Where its authorship
Vessel made up of three pieces of agate and six enamelled gold mounts. The boat-shaped bowl is decorated externally with a carved band of interlaced ovals separated by five-pointed fleurons. Running around the lip is a smooth gold mount, enamelled on the interior, with overlaid adornments of green leaves and white berries with incrustations of rubies and emeralds. At the stern is a Cupid enamelled
Vessel comprising pieces of agate with different patterns of veining, some possibly ancient, linked by adornments in different designs, in enamelled gold. The body is semi-spherical and is joined to the lid through an adornment consisting of two decorated bands, the first with small motifs, enamelled in white and green, and the second with ovolos in translucent red enamelling, imitating ruby caboc
A tall cup made up of four pieces of rock crystal and four silver gilt and enamelled gold mounts. The bowl, carved in six facets decorated with sprays framed within bands, rests upon a base with concave gadroons. The knop has six facets with engraved ovals, as does the stem, with rings whose size decreases towards the hexagonal gadrooned foot. Three ring mounts hold the bowl, knop and stem to the
A vessel made up of five pieces, the body of serpentine and the rest of heliotrope. By means of a silver gilt volute and a circle of rubies and diamonds in the form of a collar, an eagle’s head has been added, its feathers repeated on the enamel of the mount, which also features a string of gemstones. The stem rests on a flat foot. This part is enriched by four mounts with feuillages, and another
A vessel with a diminished arch profile, somewhat everted, and a round mouth, standing on a ring support. It is coated on the inside with a fine sheet of gold, and on the outside with a mosaic formed by 791 fragments of turquoise. The pattern consists of a band with a salient moulding running around the lip, and a latticed field of stalks, leaves and flowers, similar to that on vessel O-70 of the
This was the most valuable object in the whole of the Grand Dauphin’s collection. Its mounting is now lost. It is a monolithic piece in the form of a jug with a bell-shaped body and tall neck that opens out in three everted gadroons forming a trefoil mouth. The handle, carved in the same block, ascends straight from the shoulder of the body to the edge of the mouth, where it curves slightly. A ver
This vessel has an ovate bowl with six gadroons and a lobed mouth. The shaft is formed by a triple knop, the upper and lower ones covered by enamelled gold mounts and the central one carved out of the rock crystal, with imitations of inset precious stones. The two enamelled gold mounts follow the same pattern of green scrolls framed by black whorls tooled in the gold, with a drop of red enamel in
Cup, possibly a saltcellar, comprising a gold-enamelled sculpture, studded with rubies and diamonds, and two pieces of agate. The figure is a double-tailed mermaid, with a natural-coloured gold torso and a greenish-blue, red and translucent green enamelled tail. She wears a headdress of enamelled feathers and her open arms hold aloft an agate vessel with a mount of fretted and enamelled leaves, ad
This vessel in the form of an urn, recently attributed by Arbeteta to Tortorino’s workshop, is a piece of special interest owing to the beauty of its carving and the delicacy of some of its mounts, which were added to it in Paris nearly a century after it was made. They are of enamelled gold decorated with miniature scenes of the life of Moses and with rubies. The decoration is arranged from top t
The vessel is a flask in the form of an antique urn made up of three pieces of agate and two gold mounts with diamonds and rubies. The handles, two monolithic volutes, emerge from two bearded masks, possibly representations of Silenus, and come to rest near the lip of the vessel. The lid has a lion’s head with a gold and ruby incrustation between its jaws. The round foot, possibly later, is joined
Goblet comprising three pieces of heliotrope and two adornments. The body has eight fluted grooves making up a rounded, multi-lobed mouth. The baluster stem is also decorated with convex flutes, but it has only four while the bell-shaped base reverts to eight. The body is joined to the stem by a convex adornment in gold, decorated with inlaid blue and red translucent enamelling together with opaqu
